A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

My friend Kurt posted the image below to the Seaton Court Dispatch earlier in the week. I like the humor and simplicity of it so much I'm posting it here. (Real) weather balloon attached to house front. Meeker between N. Henry and Humboldt, Brooklyn, N.Y. 2004. By Dan Witz

Looks like Election Day wasn't just a blow for democracy and common sense , but also for architecture. Deerfield voters turned down a library referendum requesting the authority to issue $25 million in bonds for a new library, possibly designed by Frank Gehry. Almost 7,000 people voted "no" versus about 3,100 voting "yes". Perhaps residents in our ailing economy aren't too thrilled about donating another $312 a year to their local government. Nevertheless, it's a shame that thriftiness would take precedence over providing a quality library, regardless the architect. Previously on this page. (via Archinect )

MoCo Tokyo posts images of Tod's on Omotesando, a flagship store for the Italian shoes and leather goods brand. Designed by Toyo Ito , the store is yet another piece in what is the most fashionable street in Tokyo, for architecture as well as clothes. Tod's soon-to-be-open flagship store This is definitely following a trend that perhaps began with Tadao Ando's Collezione (1989) and has moved west past Aoyama Dori towards Harajuku Station. Witness, from west to east in a stretch of less than a mile: 1. Collezione by Tadao Ando 2. Prada by Herzog & De Meuron 3. One Omotesando by Kengo Kuma 4. Louis Vuitton by Jun Aoki 5. Dior by Kazuyo Sejima And, in addition to these wonderful pieces of architecture, is the Jingumae 4-chome Project , developed by Mori (Tokyo's version of Trump) with Ando as the architect. The huge, mixed-use project is currently under construction and includes replacements for the demolished Dojunkai Aoyama Apartments , sh...

Chora Four: Intervals in the Philosophy of Architecture , edited by Alberto Pérez-Gómez and Stephen Parcell, published by  McGill-Queen's University Press, 2004. Paperback, 343 pages. ( Amazon ) The fourth volume in the Chora series, edited by McGill University's Pérez-Gómez and Dalhousie University's Parcell, take aim at models of architecture that value aesthetics and technology over alternative views of history and ways of thinking about architecture. Surprisingly, the resulting essays fall into a few types: early Renaissance, 19th-century British figures, other artistic disciplines, and chora , the "crossing of the human and the more-than-human worlds." For me, the highlights (roughly in order from ...

First Nations Garden Pavilion in Montreal, Quebec, Canada by Saucier + Perrotte, 2001 Recipient of a 2002 Governor General's Medal in Architecture, Saucier + Perrotte 's First Nations Garden Pavilion is not much more than an undulating roof and two enclosures - exhibition and orientation space at one end, public washrooms and meeting space at the other - but it is a suitably minimal intrusion in the Montréal Botanical Garden . The pavilion is part of the First Nations Garden , a permanent commemoration of the great peace of Montreal of 1701 and a cultural exhibition of the first inhabitants of North America. The pavilion covers about 2% of the garden, acting like a porous border between the Garden...

Installment 8 of the Berlage Institute 's journal hunch was published in late September, exploring the "implications of doubling the Dutch population." Previous issues have analyzed global cities , dealt with September 11 , focused on dreaming , and asked the question of what will architects do in the future . Each issue uses the resources of the Institute, usually featuring symposia from the school, student work, essays by professors, and so forth.

New York-based firm Davis Brody Bond is designing a performing arts center on the south side of Chicago for the Muntu Dance Theater of Chicago . Located at 47th and Greenwood, the project, "will be an important cultural and economic link in a community development effort that already includes revitalized commercial, residential and educational sectors." Muntu's mission is to, "involve and educate their audience and community in the exploration of the African Diaspora...[holding programs with] with local schools." Because of this educational aspect the Center will house classrooms and practice studios, in addition to its 400-seat performance theater. The most distinctive architectural element is the perforated concrete wall, intended to resemble West African textile design, and its relationship to the glass projections that act like windows or stages to the street. These two pieces should give the building a strong presence at night, as the interior gl...